Xtremely different

The XFL, a new pro football league owned by NBC and the WWF, will try to win the hearts of football fans this weekend

Steve CroweKnight Ridder Newspapers

Published Saturday, February 03, 2001

DETROIT -- It's not your father's football league. That will be clear from the start this weekend, when the most recent indirect challenge to the mighty NFL starts with a new version of a scrum.

That's right. The football will be placed at the 50-yard line at the start of each game, and one player from each team will line up on his side of the field. After a mad dash to the 50, the winner of that battle then gains the opportunity for his team to kick off or receive the ball.

This could be fun. This could be farce.

With something of a wink -- and the same skillfully straight face XFL founder Vince McMahon has used in building his World Wrestling Federation into a corporate giant -- the XFL promises to keep it real rather than scripted.

Unlike the NFL, the XFL owns its eight 38-player franchises, which are separated into two divisions and play 10-game schedules. Each division's top two teams make the playoffs, which end with the April 21 title game at a site to be determined.

It all starts Saturday at 8 p.m., when XFL partner NBC gives prime-time treatment to the New York/New Jersey Hitmen's visit to the Las Vegas Outlaws.

McMahon, at least sounding like the XFL is in for the long haul instead of the quick buck, said he expects to lose $100 million in the league's first two seasons before breaking even in the third. How will McMahon keep player salaries from body-slamming the league? By not negotiating.

Salaries are set at $50,000 for quarterbacks, $35,000 for kickers and $45,000 for everyone else. But for every victory, a team splits a $100,000 bonus. The bonus pool for the championship is $1 million. So a quarterback who starts and wins every game, including the championship, will make no more than $110,000. The NFL rookie minimum salary is $193,000.

''I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing what kind of football they play,'' Lions and Michigan radio analyst Jim Brandstatter said. ''I mean, you look at Sunday's Super Bowl, and the XFL's opener might be better than that thing.

''But as long as they're legit, and the game itself stays a pure contest and McMahon stays on the edges of how he markets and sells it and how he cloaks it, that doesn't bother me. The important thing is that the game itself stays the game.''

The XFL's game uniforms have been designed to accommodate microphones. NBC and partners UPN and TNN have unfettered access to the locker room, playing field and sidelines. In fact, you might learn the names of XFL cheerleaders better than those of XFL players.

Although America's youth will welcome the chance to gawk at all the cleavage, the XFL promises to be on the alert to block out any audio naughtiness beyond a PG-13 rating. On-field audio will be aired throughout the stadium during games.

All XFL games will be played outdoors on real grass, which could be an arctic adventure for New York/New Jersey and the Soldier Field-based Chicago Enforcers. Other XFL teams are the Orlando Rage, Las Vegas Outlaws, Los Angeles Xtreme, Memphis Maniax, San Francisco Demons and the less threateningly named Birmingham Thunderbolts.

NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol, who lost the NFL's AFC game rights to CBS after 1998, sees the XFL as ''the ultimate TV reality show within a real game.''

''When you think about it, one of the big moments this year on 'Monday Night Football' was the game where the Jets were down by three touchdowns at halftime, and there was supposedly this incredible scene in the locker room where (coach) Al Groh went nuts.

''There were great stories written about it in all the New York press. Well, in our league, the camera is in (there), and it can't be turned off. If a player comes off the field after a blown play, our announcers are not limited where they go.''

In fact, famed former wrestler and current Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, along with partner Matt Vasgersian, will work Saturday's telecast and others from the stands -- among actual ticket buyers. Sideline reporters will also be present.

''If the coach makes a bad call, one of Vince's guys -- uh, announcers -- is right there in the guy's face,'' Ebersol said.

McMahon and company were said to be thrilled with the up-close-and-profane results last week of a Hitmen scrimmage, during which highly intense and animated coach Rusty Tillman wore a live mike. Irked by a cameraman following his every move, Tillman blurted: ''Will you get your (bleeping butt) out of my way?!''

There seems little doubt that McMahon intends to further test the theory that sex sells. One recently published joke: If you missed the XFL's promos, perhaps you mistook them for a Victoria's Secret ad.

''There will be some degree of sexuality,'' McMahon said. ''But again, it gets back to your view of the sport. Some people believe the NFL is sacred and things of that nature. I don't subscribe to that. And some teams don't even have cheerleaders in the NFL.

''In the XFL, cheerleaders are very, very important to us, because they're going to be an integral part of the game.''

Will cheerleaders, as speculation has it, be encouraged to date players? ''I'm not encouraging them to date the players, no,'' McMahon said. ''But at the same time, there's no rule that says they can't. I mean, they're human beings.

''I don't think we should have the right to legislate whom they date or not. That's none of our business.''

But who are some of the players who will even get that close to the ladies of the XFL? The list includes offensive lineman David Diaz-Infante, a two-time Super Bowl winner and Denver Bronco; former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Alvin Harper, and 1994 Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam.

In fact, it's estimated that half the XFL players have at least some NFL experience. How good will they be? The general consensus is that the league's initial talent level will be akin to that of the CFL.

Of all the things the XFL is expected to be, realistic is one of the promises, unlike the admittedly scripted matches of the WWF. ''Certainly, the success of the WWF casts a very long shadow,'' XFL president Barry DeVito Jr. said. ''That has given rise to some confusion and lack of understanding of the league as a whole.

''It has been our job to educate. And ultimately, regardless of how good we do that job, until we play football and people can see and feel for themselves just what the XFL is, it's hard to explain with just mere words and phrases.''